


Myriagon Love

by up_the_tower_1001



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:40:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28670895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/up_the_tower_1001/pseuds/up_the_tower_1001
Summary: He'd never seen this side of Dex before.
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Comments: 9
Kudos: 81





	Myriagon Love

Nursey didn’t mean to get to know Pointdexter so well. They were teammates and had been edging closer and closer to the boundary of  _ pals _ , but nothing more than that. They were fighters and clawers and pierced each other in soft places with their words. First, it was worse than not great. It was the worst. Dex and his backwards hat and backwards ideals. His voice that rose from nothing into words that made Nursey want to deck him. The freckled fuck would have had it coming though, and he was pretty sure that most of the team would have backed him up. But Nursey was as far away from violence that one could get. Not to mention that he’d for sure get expelled from Samwell. As open-minded as they marketed themselves to be, no one took too kindly to aggressive black males. 

But said freckled fuck was something Nursey had not encountered before. Said freckled fuck was something curious and tentative. He was audacious and high tempered and took too many things as a challenge, but it was when Nursey caught glimpses of him having soft conversations with Bitty in the kitchen, wiping his large hands on a clean rag. It was when he stood up to Nursey and argued, but then it was not really arguing anymore. It had changed into some sort of aggressive question asking that first made Nursey want to call him out and ride him. But then they morphed into something less aggressive and more frustrated. Frustrated at the world, at himself, at all the things that Dex could have gone his whole life without noticing, and maybe would have been happy to do just that. 

And then pitted together for long bus rides and their general lack of interest in small talk, or really, Dex’s general lack of interest in attributing brainpower to social norms, gave them room to settle quickly into other things. Things like creating the faintest outline of Dex’s homelife. Creating space for Derek to learn that Dex was a fantastic listener and intuitive in ways that surprised him, and obtuse in ways that didn’t. Found that he rested easy with Dex in the room and fit together on the ice like a peg and hole. 

He hadn’t meant to get to know Dex any better. Not even when they started living together. Especially not when Dex flipped his absolute living shit as Nursey watched from behind Lardo’s shoulder. He wondered if Dex was a bunkbed type of guy, or if he would prefer to just do one big queen and cuddle. 

Dex was like a deep dark well. Derek dipping his bucket into water. Expecting it to come out dry only to find there was more. More to Dex like the uncomfortable way he accepted Nursey’s blanket when the weather got colder and he never brought any other quilts to layer on his bed. More like the way that he slipped Nursey gummies whenever he got them, without thinking. Like how he frowned when Nursey gave him a gift for his birthday.

“You shouldn’t have done this.” And it wasn’t said with a smile or a charmed blush. Dex looked pale and serious and held the shiny red box in his hands like it was a bomb. 

“Chill, Will. It’s literally just a present. For your birthday? You know people give each other presents sometimes?”

Will looked around their room as if someone else might be there to help him out of a truly terrible situation, and Nursey felt like he should be offended, but he just wasn’t. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“You always have next year.” He raised an eyebrow and Dex chewed his lip a little bit before probably deciding that he didn’t have much of a choice except to accept the gift. 

He watched Dex’s fingers pull away the little tabs of tape. “Of course you unwrap presents like this.”

Dex flushed and didn’t say anything. He set the paper aside, and Nursey wondered if he was planning on keeping it. Under the paper, a light cardboard box, and in the box was a book. Dex’s face scrunched in confusion like he knew it would.

“You got me a cookbook?”

“Yep. Happy Birthday.”

“I don’t.” But he was already flipping through the pages. And not just looking at the pictures. Reading the recipes. Skimming over the ingredient list. And yeah, Nursey might have done some snooping. May have watched Dex a little too closely in the kitchen where he handled a potato peeler with confidence and never asked Bitty for clarifications on how to chop something or how much olive oil to use or what mincing meant. And when Dex found something he liked, stopping to read the instructions and mumbling a little bit like when he did homework, Nursey sat back and smiled, knowing that it was the only type of book he could have gotten Dex to read without bashing it into his skull first. 

And he’d been a little surprised when they’d gone to their first party at the Haus and Dex could put away drinks like they were water. That, later, when it was dark and they were a little older and a little drunk, Dex looked away and mumbled that he’d had experience with drinking long before it was wise. That his family was just that way. That he worried for his siblings because so far, he and his older brother came out unscathed, but what happened when one of them didn’t. A little surprised, and shamefully, a little not surprised.

He thought about that now, in the dark and drowning in loud music and sweat. They were crammed catty-corner to each other. Dex’s legs pressed up against Nursey’s because there just wasn’t anywhere else two huge hockey players could squeeze into. Nursey watched Dex like a doctor checking for fluctuations in a patient’s vitals. How his eyes were scattered and his flush was high on his cheeks. This was different. This wasn’t unexpected, per se, but just not something he’d ever thought about. And now that he  _ was _ thinking about it. Well.

The girl next to Nursey had long choppy hair dyed blond and defying gravity. She was having a heated conversation with the boy next to her, and didn’t look at him while she passed the blunt. In fact, no one looked at them at all. He accepted, and they both studied it resting in his fingers. 

“Oh. Before we do this, have you had much to drink?”

“Not really. Why?”

“Getting high is one thing. Getting crossed is another. Not for everyone, so. Baby steps.”

“Oh. Right.” Dex swallowed and looked up at Nursey, and then back to the blunt. Nursey handed it to him, and Dex didn’t hesitate to take it. But in his eyes, there was no challenge. It was simmering anxiety of something he’d never done before. 

“Just go easy your first time. You'll probably cough a little.”

“Right.” Watched as he pressed the wrapping to his mauve lips. Freckles dotting the skin on his chin and the bridge of his nose. Amber eyes and auburn eyebrows. The end gave a weak flicker as Dex inhaled but immediately died out as he released too quickly. Air gushed out of his lungs. “I don’t think I did it.”

Nursey laughed. “Maybe not.” He took it. “Just do what I do.” Pressed his lips together and took a small drag. Took a quick breath in after and blew the smoke into Dex’s face like an asshole. 

“Dick,” Dex laughed, fanning it away. 

“Or we could try something else?” The words escaped him before he knew what he was talking about. 

Dex’s right eyebrow raised on its own. “Like what?”

“Like.” He studied Dex’s face. Soft lashes, not overly long, framing wide eyes. His hair grown out and the tip of his ears poking out from under wavy strands. No longer beaten into submission by product. Looser. What would Dex look like if he were just looser? “It’ll be easier to show you, actually.”

“Okay.” It was wary, and maybe Dex would have pressed him for more information, but he was treading on unknown paths right now, and he trusted Nursey. And Nurse couldn’t look away as he took another drag. Watched as Dex’s eyes locked with his only to be pulled down by the little ember glow near his lips. Tracing Nursey’s face just as obviously. 

It definitely wasn’t easier to just show him. Communication beforehand might have been an excellent idea. But most people he did this with already knew what was coming. It was a game he played with dark-haired girls who wore micro bangs and had their nose pierced. Not redhead Will, his roommate and teammate. His friend. 

Nursey’s fingertips traced the underside of Dex’s chin, and even in the dim lighting, he could see Dex’s pupils flex. His lips parted, and Nursey’s eyelids flickered closed as his head began to spin.  _ There you go _ . Leaned in, breathed out. Listened to Will’s shaky breath as he inhaled. “Hold it,” murmured Nursey, last of the smoke leaving his lips. Pulled away just enough to look up and see Dex’s eyes closed. Lips sweetly lax. His hands were gripping his knees tight enough to whiten his knuckles, and Nursey had to pull back before he did anything too stupid. 

Dex’s eyes fluttered open and he sighed out the smoke. His eyes were glossy and wide. “Oh.”

Derek bit his lip but his smile broke through anyway. “You feel it? Sometimes, when it’s the first time, it takes a second.”

“No, I. Yeah. It’s like.” He licked his lips and his eyes flowed freely over Nursey’s face. “I’m really thirsty. But it feels different, you know?”

The girl next to Nursey laughed. “Oh yeah, he feels it.”

Dex giggled. So did Nursey. “Do you want another one?” Dex’s eyes flickered to his mouth. It was so quick, it could have just been an illusion. But Nursey’s body heated up with it, and he knew it wasn’t. Dangerous. This boy was getting dangerous. 

“Yeah sure.”

“Okay. Um.” They both looked at it. “Like. Like before, or?”

“You can do it again. If, um. Or I can-”

“No, it’s chill. I can do it.”

Dex didn’t say anything to that. Just watched as Nursey took another hit and passed it to the girl beside him. Turned back to Dex who seemed even more nervous this time around. Nursey raised his eyebrows just slightly in challenge and Dex ghosted forwards. Tilted his head and his eyes dropped downwards. Nursey met him, and this time he kept his hands on the couch for support. Their noses could have bumped, but they didn’t. Nursey sighed out, and Dex sighed in, and it was a wistful sound that Nursey’d never heard before. Not from Dex. His brain instantly filed it up wth sounds he would never forget. 

When they pulled back, Dex’s eyes still closed and looking a little goofy and a little hazed, jeers sounded from near them where Ransom and Holster shoved at each other. “Get a room love birds!”

“No no, more more!”

Dex’s eyes were slow to open, but instead of getting red and flustered and embarrassed, he just bit his lip and laughed softly, smoke wafting out in plumes. “You guys are just jealous that married life has been so dry.”

Ransom gasped and Holster put a hand on his chest. “As if!” Dipped Holster down and snogged him, and everyone in the room erupted in cheers. Nursey laughed, partly out of sheer surprise that Dex made a shot back, and partly because of the way Holster looked so fucked out when he stood back up. Nursey looked back at Dex, but he had to look away again because of the way Dex’s eyes were bright and shiny. 

It wouldn’t have been anything. Maybe not. But it was, apparently, because two nights later Nursey came around with his hand in his pants, face down, pillow practically suffocating him, hard and desperate, the dreamed up taste of Will’s mouth pulsing through his body. Will, the same boy who slept across the room as him, facing the wall. And Nursey, eyes studying the back of his neck with his hand on his cock like a fucking real life perv. He pressed his lips together. The moonlight smoothed the freckles on Dex’s skin, and he appeared just a pale blur under a mop of dark hair. His green blanket peeking out under the quilt Nursey gave him. Nursey looked at the cold wooden floor separating their beds. Turned onto his other shoulder and pulled his hand out of his sweats and tried to think of nothing.

The next morning, they went to the dining hall for waffles before Dex’s early morning classes, and it was all okay. It really was, because Nursey was just chill like that. Things didn’t get in his head. Not for the first time, as he watched Dex spread butter on his waffles with the force of a man plagued with something much more serious than getting an even amount of butter in the waffle dents, he was glad to be Nursey instead of Dex. Imagine Dex having a wet dream about him. Dex wouldn’t ever be able to look him in the eyes again, much less go to breakfast with him the very next morning. But here they both were, eating waffles after a good night's rest. Just two friends in the dining hall with a general comfortableness around them. Which was great. It was so good.

“I think they switched syrup brands,” Dex claimed with both cheeks stuffed with half his waffle. As if it might run off somewhere unless he ate it all in one gulp. Like he was trying to chug his food. “Tastes kinda different.” He raised his eyebrows and held up the syrup to Nursey, like he was offering to pour, knowing Nursey would take it as a threat with the amount Dex habitually drenched his waffle with.

And Nursey comes to the horrible terrible realization that Dex has never had a wet dream about him. Which would have been  _ a good thing  _ except that Nursey just had a wet dream about Dex. Which was fine until he started thinking about it. Does that mean he is attracted to Dex? Well, he has been able to acknowledge the features of his friend. The freckles, the curved nose, sometimes impish and sometimes delicate. The high cheekbones and wide, narrow lips. But now he was maybe attracted to Dex in a way that Dex would surely never be to him because. Because Dex was incapable of getting crushes. And even if he were attracted to Nursey, what then? Would Nursey want to date Dex? Would he want them to be together? 

Oh god, he was becoming Dex. He was sitting at breakfast overthinking a singular meaningless dream and it was hardly 9:00. 

“Are you gonna eat those?” Dex asked, remnants of the last of his waffles very recently shoved way down to his back chompers. 

An early spring snow or a late winter snow. Whichever you preferred. Nursey’s hands were tucked away, warm and sweating, in his winter jacket. White wisps fluttered around them in Van Gough swirls and their breaths made tiny clouds in the white haze. Samwell was beautiful when it snowed. Like New York, but altogether different. The sound fell muted and soft. Wet tree limbs froze and hung silver and decorated with icicles, and the houses were all lined white.

“I fucking hate the cold,” Dex shuttered. His shoulder was pressed against Nursey’s. He’d forgotten his jacket and was living in a wet, grey hoodie and was trying his damndest to suck the heat out of Nursey’s body through minimal physical contact. Nurse was impressed by the initiation. Dex must’ve been really cold. “I want it to be summer and a hundred degrees out so I can complain about missing the winter.”

“You really should be used to this by now. You’ve had, quite literally, your entire life to be used to this.”

“Yeah, well, there are a lot of things I’m not used to yet. Just add Winter to the list.”

“Oh, okay, sure. So then it would be, jackalopes, playing good defense, and Winter.”

“Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re going for funny or annoying.”

“When you’re the one being annoyed, there is no difference to me.”

“Hardy har.”

“Does it warm your heart, being so special to me?”

“Not warm enough. Still freezing my balls off.”

Nursey held back a suggestive comment that was on the tip of his tongue. He’d not had the guts to say  _ I could help with that _ after his dream. And it was probably for the best. Dex wasn’t a huge fan of those jibes to begin with.

He looped his arm around Dex’s, resisted the single, obligatory pull of resistance, and then smiled when Dex let it be and kept his hand in this hoodie pocket. 

The snow was snowing, the sun was shining, and they were walking arm in arm. He could do this. Just keep it casual. Just keep it normal. Just ask and Dex will know. Dex will understand how to be a human being for the first time in his life right at the moment where Nursey asks him out because. Because that’s just what Nursey needs to happen. Because he was going crazy in the locker rooms avoiding a freckled back that just was so fit. That had wide shoulders and a strong ribcage down to a narrow waist that used to be skinny but had toned up and sharpened in the right ways. Softness near his hips that sloped down where they dipped into the connection of the joint of pelvis, butt, and thigh. The way only real fit guys have. Because Nursey couldn’t stop drolling and daydreaming and damn it, he should probably talk to someone else about this but he didn’t want to talk to anyone else. He didn’t need to have a teammate list out all the ways this would and could end in tragedy. He already knew those reasons. They’ve been spinning around his head for the past month. He just wanted to ask Dex out and Dex say yes and them go on a date and it be fun and nice and maybe Dex would look at him at the end of the night under soft lighting and say he’d had a good time, and Nursey would lean forwards, neither up nor down because they were the same height (though maybe Dex would contest to that), and he’d kiss Dex and it would just be so perfect. Was that too much to ask?

“You’re quiet today,” Dex noted. Softly, because the snow made everything soft. Sometimes even a Pointdexter. 

Nursey took a breath. “I was thinking that maybe we could go see that movie together. The one we both said looked cool.”

“Oh, the one with that one dude in? Yeah, I’m down. When?” Said it reflexively and casually. Nursey could have worded that better. 

“Yeah. I bought tickets for tonight, but I was hoping-”

“Nursey,” Dex said, pulling his arm away for real this time. “I already told you that you and Chowder don’t have to buy my way through stuff. If I want to go, then I’ll go, and if I-”

“What? Chill, Dex, shit. It’s not even like that.”

“So you just happened to preorder tickets to a theater we never preorder tickets to? At least let me get the snacks then, cause like-”

“Dex. I’m asking you out.”

And this expression. This he at least was prepared for. Big amber eyes, confused and suspicious as to whether Nursey was joking. Flush creeping up, undecided if it was an angry blush or an embarrassed blush. “What?”

“I’m asking you out. That’s why I bought the tickets.” 

“Are you fucking with me right now Nurse?”

“William Pointdexter,” he said with open arms, “will you please let me take you to the movies for a romantic outing.” Nursey was starting to sweat under his jacket. Dex just kept looking at him. Nursey had tried not to think about what would happen if Dex said no. But now, with that bewildered expression plastered onto Dex’s face, not looking like it was going anywhere, he was starting to think that maybe he should have explored that avenue a bit more. 

“Derek, I-.” Shook his head without closing his mouth. And then his eyes were narrowed and it became an angry blush, and before he even said anything, Nursey let his arms fall down to his sides. He knew that look. “Fuck you, man. This is just - I can’t even. You’re just going to fucking ask me out like a fucking.” He looked around, practically panting great big clouds of smoke, as if searching for someone to agree with how outrageous Nursey was being. Which, like, didn’t feel great. It checks that Dex didn’t know how to reject someone and leave them with their dignity intact. 

“It’s chill. I shouldn’t have asked.” He put his wet hands back in his pockets and started walking back to their place. Where they both lived and worked and slept. Dex moved with him. 

“Did you even think about this at all? Did you even-” Cut himself off without a sound and walked with Nursey the rest of the way back in silence. And when they got back to the Haus, Dex grabbed his tools from the bench and fucked off with two big red eyebrows furrowed so hard they were practically a unibrow, and Nursey fucked off to the commons where he sunk into a sofa and said nothing, did nothing, and looked at no one. 

Ouch. That. Wasn’t optimal. His frustration bubbling up at Dex. How he was angry at Nursey for asking him to take a risk, but every bad thing that would’ve happened was happening now anyways because Dex was unwilling to take a risk. Fuck that. Dex was an idiot. Dex didn’t know anything. Dex. Dex probably didn’t like him, was completely blindsided by Nursey’s proposition, and now was off panic fixing some poor household appliance because he has shelter issues from back home.

He looked at his phone. No one was in the Haus. It was still claustrophobic. What the hell just happened?

“Son, you need to buy a ticket at the window.” His voice was stern and he looked over two rectangular frames that were in danger of sliding down a very long, very straight nose. He looked like Dex in the way that most tall white guys looked like Dex. He hadn’t been called Son by a white man since New York.

He pressed his lips together and held up his phone. “Preordered,” he said. Went with neutral because he couldn’t manage friendly. He went to the woman at the ticket tearing booth where she smiled benignly. His phone screen was wet from the snow though, and the ticket reader flashed red and gave fun a few loud warning beeps. And then the man was at his side while he was wiping off his screen with his equally wet jacket. Fuck the snow. He hated the snow. It only made things a hundred times more difficult. The lights blinked green and the ticket tearer said something vague from her wheelchair. 

He mumbled thank you and slipped past the ropes, away from the guard. 

Glanced at the snacks. He was running a little late already. But fuck it, if he was going to mope, he was going to do it proper, so he bought some chocolate and some popcorn and a soda and cradled it all under his arms and wandered around the theater trying to look like a super regular, white patron. 

Found a seat in the back middle because the movie had been out for weeks and weeks and no one wanted to go see an old dumb movie on a Thursday night alone in the back middle. He crammed some popcorn in his mouth and tried to figure out what was happening. 

It was more of a Dex movie than a Derek movie. Not that Nursey couldn’t appreciate it. But the women were a hair too flawless and all the men were growling through their whiskers or shouting above their saviorism and sometimes Nursey just found it a little hard to swallow. Dex might have laughed through his nose at the stupid parts, and they might have flamed it afterwards. Or they would have both laughed through their noses at the funny parts, and they could agree that it was good afterwards. Good, bad, stupid, funny. Who cares? Nursey might have fucked up in a big way this time. A total lapse of thought. Not like Nursey at all. Sure, he did it because he wanted to and because he thought that going on a date with Dex might bring him happiness. And he had never been afraid to be happy. But not taking Dex into account in a real way. How he might have been affected. Not besides saying it was nice and receiving a kiss from Nursey. 

Nursey turned his head first and processed the too loud clips of a massive human trying to creep up the stairs of a movie already playing. Front the light on the screen, red hair shone blue and amber eyes were silver orbs searching out his form. Nursey raised one hand, and the creature moved towards him, ducking his head and curling his shoulders even though there was only one person behind them. 

“Hey,” Nursery said.

“Hey. I bought you popcorn.” Nursey held up his own bag. “Oh.” He sat down and for a very one time, neither of them said anything. 

Not much went through Nursey’s mind besides Dex’s voice circling in his head.  _ I brought you popcorn _ . Sounding very odd. He thought about pushing off his jacket to escape the heat but his arms stayed still. 

“I’m sorry for being a massive dick. I was caught off guard. Yes. I would like to let you take me to the movies.” Wow. An apology from. William Poindexter? No. But, yes? Nursey looked to his side. Dex faced the screen. He was as rigid as he’d ever seen him. Like his muscles would tear right off the bone trying to get his body to move. 

Here he was, on a date with Pointdexter. How nice this was going. 

“Did you buy your ticket?”

Dex’s face pulled inward. “Yeah.”

“And snacks.”

“Yes.”

Nursey nodded. “Sounds like you took yourself to the movies then.” He looked back to the screen. What is showed, he couldn’t say.

For a while, Dex said nothing. And then, “I’m gonna go use the restroom. I’ll be back.”

“Are you serious?” But then Dex was thrusting a bag of popcorn, size small, into Nursey’s already full hands and launching himself off the seat, still mindful to duck for that one fucking person behind them. He took the stairs two at a time and jogged out of view. 

Nursey watched his shadow grow small before looking back to the movie. Did Dex just leave? His heart was hammering in his chest at the quasi-confrontation. What the fuck was happening? Dex had come to the movie to fuck off to the bathroom? Was it because Nursey didn’t immediately forgive his two-sentence apology? Fuck that guy. 

But the movie wore on, and Nursey couldn’t follow the plot and Dex hadn’t come back which meant he left the theater. So does that mean that Nursey got stood up two times in one date? Something he didn’t even know was possible. Oh, how William has opened his eyes to the possibilities of the world. Nursey would go home and conduct sonnets over the great and mysterious man, flushed away by the movie theater toilets, never to be seen again.

He left halfway through, because at this point, even if it were a Nursey movie, it would become ridiculous to stay and watch it. 35 minutes in and he couldn’t even tell you what the main character’s name was. So he left all his snacks on the floor and walked full height out of the room and down the checkered carpet where a man riding a carpet Zamboni whipped dangerously fast around corners. He glanced at the neon bathroom signs. He shouldn’t.

But maybe he needed to piss, so he walked in. Inside, there was no one. Typical. So typical Dex it hurt. It hurt like he wasn’t executing to be hurt by this red-headed boy. He took a breath and looked at himself in the mirror. His dark jacket and jeans that fit well in ways that most men’s jeans didn’t fit. The outfit he chose if Dex were to accompany him for more than 2 minutes in a dark room. He turned to go.

A sound stopped him. Someone was coughing. No. Someone was throwing up in the closed handicap stall at the very end. A ragged inhale and a few more coughs. Then one that sounded more like a gag, and then a real gag. 

“Dex?”

The sound of spitting, and a voice. “Hey, Nurse. Sorry, I’ll be out in a second.” The voice froze Nursey to the ground. It could have been Dex from their bathroom at the Haus, calling out from a steamy light after a too-long shower. It could have been an answer to a phone call in a mall dressing room. So casual. Something that Nursey never knew Dex was even capable of. Like a siren using a voice to lull weak souls into complacency. He was at the door then. 

“Dex, bro. Are you okay?”

“Yep. Just having some digestion issues. You really can go back to the movie.”

“I was about to leave.”

“Oh.” And then a whisper that made Nursey’s stomach drop. More to himself than to Nursey. “Okay.”

“Let me in.”

Dex threw up in response. Nursey cringed at the sound and inspected the bathroom floor. Squeaky clean. From under the door, Dex was there with his legs curled to the side and hand in his head, elbows resting on a public shitter. He slid under and Dex only had time to glance at him before he was dry heaving again. His body strained towards muddy water for long stretches, only broken up by pained, shuddering breaths. “I can’t get it to stop.” 

Nursey crouched down and handed him some tissue to wipe his mouth. Anything, he realized. He’d give anything to make Dex feel better, even after being stood up twice. A side of Dex he’s never seen. A side that Dex didn’t have to observe first to understand how being vulnerable works. And Nursey hated to see it and rubbed his shoulder and carded through sweaty hair. Dex was shaking. 

“Did you eat something? Or is it because. Is it like, mental stuff?” He asked as delicately as possible, hand still on Dex’s shoulder, not entirely sure how he was going to react. 

Dex smiled with his eyes closed. “I ate a footlong and a milkshake and a slice of Bitty’s blackberry pie in like 10 minutes before deciding I wanted to be here with you. But it was too icy to ride my bike, and I didn’t want to borrow anyone’s car for the night. So I ran here.”

“An entire milkshake?”

“Yeah.”

“Aren’t you like, sort of lactose intolerant?”

“Sometimes?”

Nursey couldn’t help it. He laughed. But then Dex was smiling too even though he kept his forehead in his hands, and they stilled together, Nursey rubbing small circles on his back. 

“Just try and relax.”

“I’m sorry Nurse.”

“Dex, it’s fine. I probably shouldn’t have asked you out anywa-”

“Don’t. Say that, please. I really did want to go on this. See this movie with you. I just. Sometimes you do things so easily and I just, I don’t know. The way you asked like you were just thinking about it and then you just decided to do it.”

“Yeah. Well, that’s kinda exactly what happened.” Dex winced. “How else am I supposed to do it?”

“I don’t know!”

“I don’t understand you.”

“Whatever. Let’s just drop it.”

Nursey chewed his lip. “Are we about to start arguing?”

Dex sighed. “No. I’m sorry. I’ve been told that I can be difficult to communicate with.”

And this show of humility. Maybe it shouldn’t have quelled Nursey’s injured feelings so easily, but the Poindexters were a proud race. Or at least, Will was a proud man. These things didn't happen often. 

“It’s alright.” Dex’s body stiffened, and his neck and jaw worked, but he didn’t move, and eventually, his body released. “At least it’s not from the other end. I might not have stayed for the apology.”

“It’s not too late for a second act.”

“Please, let the show not go on. Then again, you’re a star now, and the people want what the people want.”

Dex wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and Nursey grimaced. “I’ve never been a people pleaser.”

He grabbed Dex by his forearm and helped him onto shaky legs. “Can I have a second,” Dex murmured when they got to the sinks. 

“Yeah. I’ll wait outside.”

He wasn’t sure what Dex did for the next few minutes. But then he was coming out with his jacket in his hand. His t-shirt had dark patches of sweat and he smelled sour and wet. “So, have fun running home?” And for a moment, Dex’s soft smile faded around the edges and his eyes went searching across Nursey’s face. Finding what he was looking for though, he displayed a weak grin. 

“Yeah fucking right. You’re driving my stinking ass back.”

But he would have walked if Nursey were serious. It only made Nursey want to take him in his arms and press his head into his shoulder and do things that weren’t like his dream at all. No, not at all. 

  
  


Nursey could deal with it. He always had. And really, they didn’t get under his skin anymore. Not like they used to when he was in high school feeling like he could prove them wrong by getting rougher and tougher. By diving too hard at their fakes and getting heated. That he might have changed them somehow. That he might earn their respect.

Now, he didn’t think about it. It was different for everyone. Bitty, he knew, had a hard time with it when the comments started flowing about Jack and him. But Bitty came from figure skating and Nursey came from New York and Hockey and his mother, so he could handle the occasional, simple-minded bigot. 

They came in all shapes and sizes. The short ones like to get physical. Slam him up against the wall in a hit that shouldn’t be legal, but they’ve learned to get away with it because the ref wasn’t going to call much on a 6’2 Nursey. Liked to lower their shoulders and check him like their end goal is to bust through his chest itself. But Nursey was strong, and he didn’t even mind the bruises on his body after they came away with the W. 

The big ones liked to get chatty. They pressed him up against the glass and grunted vile things about everything they could possibly think might get under Nursey’s skin. Sometimes, they were crude and vague and all-around unimpressive. And then sometimes you get a kid who maybe is doing an English minor and is real creative about it all, and those can be a little annoying. The chirp coming off easy and cutting. But he was better than that now. He had focus. He had his mind and his body to fall back to, and they have never failed him. He wasn’t one for nerves. He kept a cool head. Chilly, almost. And those workouts weren’t just for the stunner bod. 

This time, the guy was a mumbler. Spat comments that Nursey couldn’t hear anyways. Found it unobtrusive. With the pace of the game and Nursey honed in, trying not to slip up just to score a few extra seconds on the ice, the guy never had much of a chance. Credit for his effort though? 

Cool as a cucumber Derek. That’s what they called him. Slick Rick, smooth Charlie. Yes, he was one with the ice and puck. 

And then, when it was time to get to the bench with Ransom and Holster standing by the wall clutching their sticks, the puck skittered along the ice in an awkward pass and bounced where it was not supposed to be. And Dex, caught on his way back to the bench as well, suddenly found himself off guard and unaware of a very large and very aggressive blue shirt coming at his back. The puck sort of hit his stick in a half-decent attempt at control when he was plastered to the glass, hit with the horizontal stick first and then a body and then a wall. 

The crowd erupted and a penalty was called without hesitation. Nursey slid to the wall and hopped over the gate, but kept his eyes on Dex who hadn’t gotten up yet. He watched as the hulk stood over Dex, probably talking shit, before getting pulled away. Slowly, slowly, he rose from the ice and made the sub. Nursey thought back to the theater a week ago. Noted how sturdy Dex always was now that he’s seen him shake. 

“You alright man?” 

“You just got wasted out there, eh Dexter!”

A couple slaps to the back, a quick check by Coach, and he was sitting by Nurse's side.

“You okay?” Dex took to his helmet and nodded. He didn’t look at Nursey though. Only out on the ice, eyes trained on 42. He had a bad feeling. “Don’t do it, Pointdexter. He’s not worth it.”

Dex looked at him then like Nursey was the one who just checked him. “I’m not going to  _ do _ anything. Lay off.”

Nursey didn’t think his advice to chill out would be taken very well, so he stayed quiet and watched the ice. 

“Nurse! Pointdexter!”

They cammed their heads back in their helmets and were on the ice, skating fast and furious once again. And Nursey checked the mumbler real good and clean and got the puck, skidding it down the line to Bitty who fed it to Wicks. They all were quick to pounce on him when he made the shot, and the relief of the goal came partly from the thought that it might help pull Dex back into the game and out of his head. His head looked like it was an angry place to be at the moment. But he couldn’t get a glimpse at his D man, and then the puck was moving again. 

It happened in the corner. Nursey shot it to Dex behind the goal, and Dex pushed it up the center. Stood up to watch his pass but Nursey wasn’t looking at the puck. He was trying to get his voice to work as 42 lowered his shoulder. Hit Dex below the ribs and flipped him. Just like that. He was swarmed and Nursey was there first, shoving him into the glass because fuck being chill. Fuck. The man was shouting something through a mouth full of spit and Nurse was shouting something back that even he wasn’t entirely aware of. Then people were pulling him back and the deafening roar of the crowd and hands pounding on the glass and the intensity of the heat under his uniform all had him dazed and furious. 

He looked around. Dex was on the ground, face-up, legs sprawled out, and Nursey tried to remember if he saw him hit his head on the way down. Tried not to crowd his friend. The medic said something to him and Dex waved his hand around a little and turned onto his side. The stadium was shaking, and Dex’s stick was nowhere to be found. Slowly, he pulled his legs under himself and got his skates back to the ice. Nursey skated towards him and grabbed him by the arm to help him up but was shaken off with surprising force for someone who’s knees were bending inwards. 

Dex looked up, not at Nursey or the medic, but at 42, still in a skirmish with the refs. Nursey watched his eyes. Saw something unrecognizable. 

The medic grabbed his other arm and Dex let himself be taken off the ice. Nursey watched him step out of the rink before pulling away from the support and walking out. Just. Leaving. Watched him darken and darken until he turned a corner and was gone. 

The game went on. Nursey was taken out again because he started sucking quite immediately after. Another point was scored. Nursey wasn’t put back on. 

Eventually, Dex came back out and was spared a few seconds as Coach Hall checked to make sure everything was okay before laying into him about walking away. “We’ll talk about this later.” And then was back to the rink. Dex sat down at the end of the bench, far away from Nursey where the frogs shrunk away from him like they used to do with Zimmerman, only, not for the same reasons. Even from here, Dex was visibly tight with rage. But his body was okay and the thought settled Nursery a little bit. Angry Dex, he knew. 

They won. It didn’t feel much like a win. It could have, maybe, if he wasn’t looking at Dex the whole time, and if Dex’s face smiled even once. But it didn’t and he was and so it didn’t. In the locker room, he tried to approach Will, but for once, he felt himself at a loss for words. The frustration didn’t normally last this long when they won. It went from  _ fuck you _ to  _ ha fuck them _ . It went to roughhousing on the bus or sleepy rides back to the hotel. Not this quiet brooding. There was no shouting or cursing from Dex to make his anger known. Just something dark and inwards. 

He knew angry Dex. But this wasn’t angry Dex. This was something else. It was too cold to touch, so Nursey stayed a safe distance away and kept an eye on him. 

Bitty made a move. Probably the only one who dared to, or had even the remotest chance to swing the pendulum. But from what Nursey could tell, the redhead just nodded and said a few words, hardly even looking up at the blonde. Bitty turned to Nursey with confused eyes, and Nursey’s stomach sank. Did he do something? 

Bitty came over towards him.

“What’s wrong with him?” Nursey asked, breathless. 

Bitty frowned. “I was hoping you could tell me.”

“What did he say? Is he mad at me?”

“Mad at you? No, he didn’t mention you. Why? Were you two in a fight?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

Bitty sighed. “If you two were in a fight, normally half the building knows.” Bitty put a hand on his shoulder, and Nursey wasn’t sure why he was the one being comforted. Only that he would take it because it felt nice. “No, I just thought you might know.”

“I mean, I think it was from the check.”

“Normally he shakes it off. But heck, who am I to be talking about that.”

“No, you're right. Normally he does. I guess this one was just different.”

“Are you going to talk to him?”

“Yeah. Just giving him some room.”

“Alright.”

Chowder handed Dex some Gatorade and Nursey gave him the window seat without a fight. Dex stayed behind his eyes though dinner.

That night, Nursey waited on the hotel bed for Dex to come out from brushing his teeth. His hair was dark auburn from the shower. “You alright man?”

“Yeah.”

“Will.”

“Oh my god, Nurse. What? What do you want?” The snap was a quick change from apathy. They were both dog tired, and Nursey knew he should be careful with this. But.

“Well, you are obviously not alright. So I would like to know what’s going on so we can fix whatever is making you into a huge prick right now.”

“Have you ever considered that being a huge prick is just a personality trait?”

“Many times, yes.”

“Great. Mystery solved. I’m a huge fucking prick.” He slammed his toiletry bag into his suitcase like he was spiking a football. Tension screamed from every joint in his body and one hand curled into a loose fist. 

“It was the check.”

“Yeah, it was the fucking check.”

“You play hockey. You get checked sometimes. That guy was a psycho, Dex. We all saw it was a dirty move, but you’re alright, and he sat for like 20 minutes.”

“Oh, you’re right. I didn’t even realize. I guess I was too busy being a crazy fucking rage monster. That’s me, right? Out of control Pointdexter. A fucking wildcard!”

“Dude, what are you talking about?” Their voices were getting louder. They hadn’t argued like this since their frog year. 

“Coach chewed into me for leaving after the game. He told me I lacked restraint. As if we don’t already know that. It took everything in me not to go after that fucking piece of shit, you know. I could have killed him, I swear to you. I would have torn his private school ass apart. And the things he was saying, Nurse. The shit he was fucking talking. I wish I’d done it. I’d take the penalty. I got torn up by Hall anyways. That fucker almost took away everything. He could have took away everything, Nurse. Everything I have. That was more than a fucking dirty hit. It would have knocked me out for the rest of the season if I landed wrong. It could’ve. It fucking. It was a fucking dangerous hit.”

  
  


He watched as Dex’s legs gave out and he dropped onto the bed, leaning his side against the headboard and looking down at the brown alarm clock under the lamp. They were both quiet and aware of Dex’s throat working and his eyes blinking a little too fast. He briefly wondered if Dex had been concussed, but decided that maybe now was not the time to bring it up. 

He made his move to Dex’s bed slowly so that Dex had plenty of time for rejection, but the other hardly twitched. Just like he was taken off the ice, Dex’s body simply followed Nursey’s pull into his arms and sagged into his chest like a sack of flour. Nursey tried not to suffocate him, but he found it hard not to tighten his arms around the lank body. 

“You’re right, it was a dangerous hit, Dex. That shit sucks. For whatever it’s worth, I’m glad you’re okay.” Dex said nothing. Just took long deep breaths on Nursey’s collarbone. Nurse closed his eyes for a little bit, soaking up Dex’s heat and damp breath and his exhausted weight. 

He’d never seen Dex scared before, he reflected. Definitely anxious. And nervous as hell before big games. He used to make fun of him for it as a way to try and prod him out of it. Show him that it didn’t matter. It did, but it didn’t. But not like this where he was talking about everythings and all-I-have’s. Go figure that he hid it under anger. Get everyone to take a step back so they couldn’t touch his wounds, soft and exposed like this. 

It was remarkably easy to see it once engaged. Not like his hard and stubborn frustration with himself or the team or life in general. It was simply pulling a thread and watching Dex deflate, and Nursey wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He felt. Unsure. Unsure where to proceed. Unsure what Dex might want to hear or how he would want to be treated. Only that he was taking this physical comfort and not pulling away the second it became longer than a bro hug. Hell, he wasn’t even hugging back. He was letting himself be held in the rawest form and was letting Nursey be the one to hold him. 

So he took a small chance and put his nose in his hair and breathed in the scent of generic shampoo and let his breath ruffle the strands. Took a small chance and rubbed his knuckles up and down Dex’s spine. Dex’s only grew heavier, and sometime in the dim light of a hotel lamp, Dex fell asleep. Nursey was bone tired and worn as hell, but he held out for a few more minutes. A few more minutes on the ice and a few more minutes with Dex’s head on his shoulder.

He didn’t have to wake him up. Was beginning to think he wouldn’t be able to when Dex shifted and sat up. Nursey’s arms dropped down. Dex rubbed his eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s chill. You alright?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.” Dex’s eyes looked over Nursey’s face before looking away and biting his thumbnail. “We should get to sleep.”

Nursey ruffled Dex’s hair and Dex ducked away, smiling. “Good night sweet prince.”

“Yeah, whatever.” But in the dark, as Nursey snuggled into cool sheets, Dex said thank you. And Nursey hummed a response. 

  
  


“For school or for fun?”

“School.” Nursey didn’t even know what it meant to read for fun anymore. 

“Nice.”

Something soft wapped him on the head and he grunted. 

“Hey Nurse.”

“Hey.”

“How’s your book coming along?”

“Pretty good.”

“What’s it about?”

Nursey looked up. Chow stood in front of him, smiling a sappy smile at his phone, and Nusey normally relished in any excuse to avoid work. That’s the entire reason he read in the commons. But he was in a particularly challenging section, and Chow was probably texting his girl and was probably not interested in what Nursey’s book was about. He snapped it closed. He wouldn’t be able to tell him anyways. “Typical hero stuff. What’s up?”

Chow looked up from his phone. “Do you know where Dex is? He told me he’d work with me on a coding assignment, but he’s not in his room.”

Nursery looked around. “Oh. He was right here a second ago.”

“Really?” Chow looked around too as if Dex might emerge from a hole in the ground nibbling on a carrot and calling them  _ Doc _ . The image brought a smile to Nursey’s lips. “I checked downstairs cause the hot water has been acting up, but he wasn’t there either. So I thought he might be with you.”

“No Dex here.”

“But you don’t know where he is?”

“Why would I know?”

Chowder shrugged. “I don’t know. You guys have been, like, spending a lot of time together.” He scratched the back of his head in a very Chowder way, and Nursey tilted his head, suddenly wondering what that meant. There was no way Dex confided to Chowder, their very mutual friend, about their half-baked-date a few weeks back. Something that neither of them had yet to bring up since. Especially not after the night of the hockey game. 

“Yeah, I guess we have,” he mused. 

Chowder blushed and smiled a little bit goofy. “I guess I’m just really happy for you guys. You really came together, you know, like in a totally swausome way. I just really like seeing you guys so happy.”

“Hey, thanks Chow.”

“Chyeah. Anyways, let me know if you see him then because I think he might be avoiding me because he doesn’t want to do this assignment. And he is really good at hiding, it’s weird. I have to set the whole team on his trail sometimes.”

“Sure thing. Maybe try setting out some pies to lure him back?”

“I’ve tried that before, but it’s like he knows it’s a trap.”

“He can smell the human on them.”

“Yeah, I guess? Thanks Nursey.”

“No problemo, Chow-Chow.”

“Look at our little scholar.”

“Gonna be a famous author one day.”

“Like Hemmingway himself.”

“Or Dr.Seuss.”

“Or Ronald Dahl.”

“Oh yeah, or him.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s all I know.”

“Same.”

“I think Bitty was gonna make some pie. Something about trapping an animal?

“I wonder if he’ll do the chocolate one.”

“Oh yeah, the chocolate one is so good bro.”

“Bro, for real.”

“Nurse?”

“Hm?”

“Um. You busy?”

“One sec.” Finished the paragraph and pressed his thumbnail into the page to mark his spot. Capped his pen and stuck it behind his ear in the way he adopted from Dex. Oh. Dex. “Chow was looking for you. Something about an assignment?”

“Yeah,” Dex smiled and scratched his arm. “The pies aren’t out yet so I’d say I got at least 10 minutes before he comes circling back around.” 

Nursey laughed and tilted his head. “What’s up?”

“I, er. Well, I was gonna see if you maybe wanted to get some breakfast with me.”

Nursey glanced at the clock. “It’s almost lunchtime.”

“Oh. I guess, brunch then? Maybe?” He watched as Dex’s right hand jerked up to his mouth before coming back down, one wrist cupped in his other hand. He was trying to break the habit. By the look of his poor cuticles, it wasn’t going great. Thank the gods he didn’t vape. “But, if you’re busy, that’s fine too. I mean, I should probably be doing that project with Chowder anyways. I told him I would.” He laughed and it was the strangest sound that Nursey had ever heard. Some sort of choked wheeze erupting from his chest before he cleared his throat and ended with a small hum. Without taking his eyes off him, partly because he was beginning to see what was happening here and partly just to make Dex uncomfortable, he folded the corner of his page and closed it nice and slow. Dex’s flush erupted from under his freckled skin. It looked so hot, Nurse was surprised he didn’t start blistering. 

“Alright. Breakfast then. Dining hall, or should I grab my keys?”

Dex answered by reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a massive ring of keys, one of which was probably a car key. “I’ve been doing a little bit of work on Martin’s car, and he said I could borrow it for the day, so.” 

Nursey didn’t ask why he didn’t just let him drive. He, at least, could see the difference between going to the movies and being taken to the movies. He just smiled. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Great. Well, maybe grab your coat. And maybe a hat?” He sort of cringed as he said it but offered no other explanation, and it was all so Dex that Nrusey had to laugh. 

“I’ll grab my jacket and hat. And then we go?”

“Yeah.”

He debated which coat to wear for a few minutes too long and then got embarrassed about it because Dex has seen all his clothes and was wearing some dirty brown coat stained with car grease over a flannel over some ugly band t-shirt. Still managed to look ridiculously charming, and he rolled his eyes at the thought. Dex was as far away from charming as a person could get. He grabbed something warm and hit his favorite grey beanie and changed his sneakers because, well, he just wanted to. And when he came down the stairs with Dex crouching by the front door, checking out the loose screws in the handle, well, he might as well have been the Belle of the Ball. 

Dex looked up at him and gave him a grin. Didn’t even glance at his shoes. 

“Should I ask where we’re going?” Nursey asked as he climbed into a small red pick up. Whoever Marcos was, he kept his car ten times cleaner than Nursey did, and he felt a little guilty for everything Dex had to put up with as he stretched his legs with no papers or old cups or hockey gear in the way. 

Dex just drummed his fingers along a worn steering wheel and adjusted the volume on the radio because the car didn’t have an aux. It was something slow and bluegrass. The air was cool and dry in winter’s last attempt to grip the days, but the sun was out and the heat didn’t seem to work anyway, so Nursey rolled down his window, and Dex joined him right after. He rested his head on the seat and watched small one and two-story buildings flicker past in a picturesque small down painting, driving in a truck with a dotted redhead and the air kissing his cheeks and making them smart. 

They drove through town where all the good brunch places were, and he saw a few people he knew but didn’t call out to them. Then they were passing the edge and entering farmlands and woodlands and old worn roads. Tall grasses flooded the planes and rippled in the wind like a hundred thousand golden dancers. 

They drove for about 10 more minutes before Dex pulled off the road into a smaller dirt path. Sunlight dappled the ground they drove and blue sky winked at him through the leaves. They slowed down and gravel crunched under the wheels as they broke into a small clearing. On the edge, a small wooden fence separated them from a steep downward slope that ran into a lake. Nursey looked at Dex, and he just smiled as he whipped them around and backed up. 

“Did you trick me with the promise of breakfast to come swim with you in a freezing lake?” Nursery finally asked. Dex stepped out of the truck and Nursey did the same, damn it. In the bed on the truck were a few blankets and a milk carton covered with cloth and a bungee cord like a drum. Dex pulled down the hatch. 

“After you,” he said. Derek looked at him for a second before clearing his throat and climbing up into a makeshift nest. 

“These look familiar,” he said, running his hand along a checkered blanket, and Dex pulled his way up next to Nursey and unhooked the bungee cord. “Is this every blanket you own?”

Dex barked a laugh. “I double checked the weather report. 

“No kidding.”

Dex pulled out a small camping burner from the crate along with a bowl and a few eggs. 2 wonky plates were placed in Nursey’s hands. They were scratched and dented from use. On top of them, a couple of forks. He looked at the stove. “Is this safe?”

“No. I'm gonna blow us both up.”

“At least we’ll go out with a bang.”

He could only watch as Dex hooked up the rig to a small tank of butane and started everything up. Took out two slices of bread and placed them on a black pan, and then sat back, shoulder to shoulder with Nursey over the lake. Nursey looked at him, nose practically touching his ear, and all Dex could do was flush and not look back. 

“So. Just a perfectly planned picnic over a lake?”

Dex cleared his throat. “Looks like it.”

“What, you talk to Bitty about this first?”

“Lardo, actually.”

Nursey laughed. “You fucking liar.”

Finally, he broke and looked at Nursey, doing that infuriating thing where he ducked his head a little bit, looking like a teenage heartthrob. “I have sisters. I might have gotten a few ideas from them. But the camp stove was my idea.”

Nursey rolled his eyes. “Ah yes, the camp stove really ties everything together. Thank god for the camp stove.” Dex huffed a pretend breath of annoyance and flipped the bread. But it wasn’t ready yet so he flipped it back. “This is really nice, Dex. Thank you.”

“Yeah, well. It’s no movie theater bathrooms, but. I try.”

Nursey leaned over and kissed him then. Just on the cheek. He wasn’t sure who kisses on the cheek anymore besides third graders and old married couples. Hell, even fourth graders are getting their snog on nowadays. He didn’t feel embarrassed though. Dex did that for the both of them. 

“That first night when you, erm, asked me to go with you. I think maybe I should explain why I got upset.” He spoke evenly like he was choosing his words carefully. Or he’d already chosen them, more likely. 

“Alright.”

They both kept their eyes on the bread. “I’ve um. Ha.” He said ha and then laughed a single ha. His face twisted with effort. “I’ve, I guess, liked you for a while now and it just felt like you asked me out on a whim,” he rushed. “And then I got mad because it felt like I had been driving myself insane over trying not to have feelings for you because it would fuck everything up, and then you sort of just. Did it.” Nursey waited for him to continue, but he looked up with concerned eyes and he realized that that was it. “I know I’m an idiot. I’m sorry.”

Nursey nodded a few times. His heart skittered along a line at the revelation. This beautiful boy took him out for a picnic and was making them toast much darker than Nursey liked it. “Dex, sometimes you make me lose my chill. But god, I really like you too.” 

Dex let out a burst of air and his head plonked onto Nursey’s shoulder. “Oh, thank god.” Nursey laughed and picked his toast out from the pan. 

They made eggs and Dex wished for some coffee, but none appeared. It was only a matter of time before Nursey peeled off his socks and threw them at Dex’s face before hooting and running on his tiptoes down the grassy slope into the freezing water. He supposed that the romantic thing would have been for Dex to follow him in and splash around a little bit before they embraced in a glorious kiss, caught hypothermia, and died at the ripe age of twenty. But Dex did none of those things and all Nursey had to show for it was wet feet and a huge smile at the sight of Dex shaking his head like he couldn’t believe but believed all the same time. 

On the way back, Nursery turned the heat on and nothing happened and Dex refused to let him have his jacket to dry off his poor toes. “You’re supposed to be courting me!” Nursey complained loudly to the side of Dex’s head. 

“You are supposed to be courting me, if anything.”

“Bollocks!”

“Jesus.”

They rolled up to the Haus. “I gotta drop the truck off,” Dex said as he parked outside. “But, I had fun.”

“Yeah, me too.” And they looked at each other for a second, and this, Nursey had never seen before. This sweet and sunshine side of Dex. Not from this angle, looking at Dex like Dex was looking at him. They both leaned in, in the end. The romantic thing would have been to press something soft and light to Dex’s lips. Nursey tried, but it was Dex’s fault. Lapped him up like a cat drinking milk and made Nursey’s head spin with it. Romance was overrated, sometimes. Nursey much preferred Dex. 

  
  
  



End file.
